Best XQD and CF Memory Cards for Nikon D6

You can get the Nikon D6 with either Dual XQD or Dual CF memory card slots, the choice is up to you.

Since we don’t know which one you’ve got, our guide covers both the best XQD and best CF memory cards for the money.

The D6 was designed with professional sports and action photography in mind. They upgraded the AF system (105 points) so that it can continuously autofocus with shoot bursts up to 14 fps. 

Most readers will probably already own this camera, but if you’re researching your options just note that the D6 is primarily a professional stills camera based on the feedback users provided during development. So although it can do 4K video if you are a professional wedding videographer then you’d want to look at something like the Z6 or the D850. For reference, if you go with either of these options they compatible with the XQD cards. 

From our research the XQD cards are great, but they are few and far between and difficult to find. We’ve spent the time sorting through what’s available to you so you don’t have to.

The Top 4 Cards We Selected

• Lexar Professional 2933x XQD
• Sony G-Series 400MB/s XQD
• Lexar Professional 1066x UDMA 7 CF
• SanDisk Extreme Pro UDMA 7 CF

The Nikon D6 shoots at 14 frames per second and if you don’t want to wait a long time before the buffer clears, you’ll want the fastest cards available on the market today. The camera has a 200 image buffer, although you’ll probably rarely go that high.

Best XQD Memory Cards for the Nikon D6

• Lexar Professional 2933x XQD
• Sony G-Series 400MB/s XQD
• Additional Option: Nikon 400MB/s XQD

Lexar Professional 2933x XQD

UPDATE: Although this is still our favorite card it’s extremely hard to find since it doesn’t appear that Lexar is making them any more. If you’re okay with a used card we still think this the best XQD card but for those who aren’t we’ve added another card option down below.

Looking for the best there is? The Lexar Professional 2933x XQD card is the fastest and best deal for the money. It’s got a writing speed up to 400MB/s and reading speed up to 440MB/s, and a 64GB version will cost you less than $90.

The card can easily store 200 RAW files in a single burst, The buffer waiting time is also the shortest among all cards.

It’s available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB versions, and you can get each with a reader (extra $20).

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Sony G-Series XQD

The Sony XQD 64GB G-Series is one of the few other options besides the Lexar above. It also has an option that comes with a dedicated XQD memory card reader.

Why did we include it here? Mostly so you can see why the Lexar above is such a great deal. The Sony costs more and has both reading (400MB/s) and writing speeds slower (350MB/s). It’s also available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB versions. If you only need 64GB cards then last we checked they were a little less from this source.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

ADDITIONAL OPTION: Nikon XQD Memory Card

The Nikon XQD Memory Card is designed specifically with a camera like the Nikon D6 in mind.  With 400 MB/s write speeds it comparable to the Sony XQD card listed above. 

Nikon had durability in mind when they created this. The contact pins have been reseed to help prevent damage, dust, and electrostatic shock. While also putting the whole package in a strong shell to address demanding use conditions, plus withstand temperatures from -13 to 149p degrees F.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Best CF Memory Cards for the Nikon D6

• Lexar Professional 1066x UDMA 7
• SanDisk Extreme Pro UDMA 7

Lexar Professional 1066x UDMA 7

The Lexar Professional 1066x is the most popular, super fast and the cheapest for what it offers (UDMA 7). In addition to capturing images, there you also get high-speed card-to-computer file transferring to speed up your post production work.

Lexar also includes a downloadable Image Rescue software in case you lost your files. It comes in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB sizes.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

SanDisk Extreme Pro UDMA 7

The SanDisk Extreme Pro UDMA 7 is almost identical in speed, yet costs a little bit more. Both brands are excellent and I’ve been using both for years (CF and SD), and none of them failed ever.

However, Sandisk is quite famous for their durability and their cards working in all sorts of difficult conditions; freezing to extremely hot. We’re not saying Lexar won’t work in cold/hot conditions, it’s just that SanDisk has a reputation in this department.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

For more detailed speeds, check out the Nikon D5 Memory Card comparison here. (Yes we know this is for the D5 but since we are looking at memory card speed the performance will be similar for your D6.)

Looking for Lenses?

Regardless of the type of photography you do we’ve compiled a list of the best Nikon Lenses to pair with your D6.

Last Updated on September 14, 2021 by Nick Voorhees